Category: ANZAC

Born and raised in the South Australian country, an early volunteer, Basil Henderson appears to fit the classic, bronzed, Australian stereotype. Long silences in his army records speak volumes about his character and fitness for service. Waves of diarrhea, diphtheria, and venereal disease, plagued other soldiers. He fought in rocky, hillside trenches in Gallipoli and flat, muddy trenches France, slowly advancing from private to sergeant. His service was ended abruptly, a few months before armistice when he was wounded for a second time, in an action that earned him a Distinguished Conduct Medal. One brother was killed in action, another wounded and disabled, and his mother died within months of war’s end. He returned a hero to a different world, and appears to have coped. Stoic, is the word that comes to mind.

Basil Lowingham Henderson was born 12 May 1891 on the family farm in Muloowurtie, Daly, South Australia,[1] the eighth child of ten. His family was well known in the small community of Ardrossan, his parents having owned the General Store for many years before taking up farming.[2] At a time when every town had its own local newspaper, the Henderson’s lives are surprisingly well documented.

As one of the people on whom the modern “ANZAC legend” is based, Basil could be said to fit the stereotype. At the age of two, he went missing from the farm, the whole district engaged in the search for him, and when he was found some twenty-three hours later it was reported that “… having been warmed up and refreshed with some food one of the search party had with him, he became quite merry and talkative.”[3] At the age of eleven he was bitten by a snake whilst rabbit hunting, he chopped off a piece of his thumb with snake still attached, this time he was reported to be “plucky”.[4] His eldest brother died when Basil was three,[5] and his father was killed in a farm accident when Basil was seventeen,[6] so he was no stranger to death. On enlistment, he was five feet, seven and a half inches (171 cm) in height, of medium dark complexion, and 161 pounds (73 kg) in weight.[7] It could be said, therefore that Basil was tall, bronzed, independent, and of strong character.

On 4 August 1914 when war was declared in the Britain[8] the nine surviving Hendersons, two females and seven males, were aged from 15 to 32 years old, none were married. Basil was 23. In October 1914, his brother George, enlisted at Morphetville, South Australia, aged 26.[9] Basil joined on 30 January 1915 in Ennogra, Queensland, where he listed himself as a farmer.[10] Surprisingly, he was pipped to the post by his younger brother Leonard, who enlisted in Oaklands, South Australia at the age of 15 years and nine months, by passing himself off as being 21.[11] The enlisting officer could hardly be blamed for being fooled as Leonard was six feet and half an inch (184cm) tall.[12] The three eldest, aged 32, 30 and 29, never enlisted which is not surprising as most soldier volunteers were aged between 18 and 25, with 21 being the most common age.[13]

Basil embarked from Brisbane, Queensland, on board HMAT A15 Star of England.[14] There is no record of his disembarkation port, his record states only that on 26 May he joined ANZAC, and no further record until he disembarked in Alexandria from Murdos on 4 January 1916.[15] It is not surprising that there are no records for this period. It is common knowledge that Gallipoli was a steep, rocky terrain, backed only by sea, and completely outside the scope of British and allied lands. There was no bureaucracy to record the minutiae of individual service, and the peninsular was being furiously defended by the Turks.

It is only possible to browse through the diaries of the 9th Battalion and gain an overview of what kind of situation Basil was in during this time. There is also no mention in battalion diary of 4th reinforcement’s arrival[16] although 5th reinforcements are mentioned in June.[17] It is therefore safe to assume that Basil was in Gallipoli by the beginning of June and his experience in Gallipoli was like others of the 9th Battalion.

In June, they were supplying fatigue parties to help dig trenches as casualties during the day were too great, followed by attempting to retrieve bodies under heavy rifle fire.[18] In July, they were rotated to front line, Cholera Inoculations began. Platoons were being taken to the beach for a swim, there were three cases of men cutting or shooting off fingers hoping, unsuccessfully, to get evacuated to hospital, and by the end of the month diarrhea was prevalent.[19]

August,[20] September[21] and October[22] was a continuous cycle of heavy fighting interspersed with quiet days, sick leaving and returning as troops and officers were infected with amoebic dysentery reducing the strength of the battalion. To top off the month of October, there was a very close encounter with a Turkish digging party, and a fierce storm that damaged piers on the beach.

At the beginning of November,[23] they rotated off the front lines and were sent on a bivouac. On November 16 they embarked SS Abassiah for Lemnos. They spent the rest of November and then December[24] training and regrouping. It was cold and snowing, the soldiers did not have enough warm clothing or blankets. Another outbreak of diphtheria in the beginning of December caused Battalion to be quarantined, their health gradually improved and they began to organise sports and entertainments. The quarantine was lifted and on 31 December and they embarked the Grampian for Alexandria.

In January 1916, Basil was disciplined for being in Lagazig without a pass. In February, his brother Edward enlisted in Adelaide.[25] Basil was transferred, first to 49th Battalion, then in March to 4th Division Artillery, as gunner, and finally to 11th Field Artilliary Brigade, mustered and posted 4S Battery. In April, he was promoted to Bombardier. All this was still in Egypt.[26]

In June, he joined the British Expeditionary Forces on the 10th, he disembarked Haverford in Marseilles, and by the 26th, was promoted in the field France, to Corporal. There being nothing in his record, we must assume he spent the next seven months fighting in France, beginning in summer through to the harshest winter in Europe for forty years.[27]

It was now January 1917, and the Sarah Henderson had four sons on active service. For two years, there had been no serious incidents, but all that was about to change. The youngest brother, Leonard, who had been in service in France for as long as Basil, was hospitalised for two weeks in early January for “debility”.[28] On 28 January 2017, another brother Edward was killed in action[29] and buried in a makeshift graveyard in Le Boeufs, three miles south of Bapaume, in France.[30] In February, Basil was promoted in the field in Belgium to Seargent.[31]

On 10 June, George was seriously wounded in action in Belgium, a gunshot wound to left hand and leg, and transferred to England for hospitalisation.[32] It is only fair to assume that Basil was aware of all this. In August, Basil is recorded as being hospitalised sick then, soon after, being hospitalised again for an illness whilst on his way to England for leave. Although it does not record what illness he had, it is the first time he is recorded as having any kind of illness.[33] He was certainly a healthy, hardy man.

September 25, Basil was seriously wounded in action in France, a gunshot wound to leg and head, and transferred to England for hospitalisation, his mother was notified. Throughout 1917, Sarah Henderson is kept informed about her sons’ progress with short proforma letters using formal phrases, “advised to hospital”, “advised progressing favourably”, “advised convalescent”.

In January 1918, Basil returned to duties in France,[34] and George was discharged with a disability pension of 15 shillings per week, and returned to Australia.[35] He arrived home in March, to flags, school children and foundry worker’s in a guard of honour, and speeches.[36]

Only a few days later, on 5 April, Basil was wounded in action for the second time, a gunshot wound to right elbow, left leg and knee. The letters to his mother started up another round, she must have dreaded visiting the post office. On 12 May Basil was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.[37] He spent the last three months of the war and many months after, recuperating in hospital. His mother Sarah, died unexpectedly during this time, she survived the war by only a few months, and died on 2 January, 1919. His brother, still under 21 managed to serve throughout the war, a sprained ankle being his only injury.

Basil returned home on May 17, and Leonard on May 31. They each had a hero’s welcome. Life appears to have returned to the rhythm of rural life. Basil married, had children, and was not mentioned in the newspaper again until he, and two companions had a narrow escape in a cart accident.

Without any personal papers, it is not possible to imagine how Basil, or any of his brothers coped with their experience of the war. War veterans rarely if ever speak of these things. Once again, it is the silence in the records that imply Basil’s stoic character.